MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Not long after a West Virginia assistant watched Cody Saunders throw in-person for the first time Wednesday, the Panama City, Fla., prospect became the Mountaineers’ first quarterback commitment for 2016.
A Rivals two-star recruit, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Saunders holds offers from four otherFBS programs—South Florida, Southern Miss, Georgia Southern and Florida Atlantic—and recently was on the cusp of a Kentucky offer until Gunner Hoark committed to the Wildcats on April 20.
The Mountaineers offered Saunders last week and brought him to Saturday’s Gold-Blue spring game for a visit. The Rivals website WVSports.com reported that West Virginia assistant JaJuan Seider evaluated Saunders on Wednesday in the Florida Panhandle, essentially sealing the commitment.
“He displays a strong arm on film and still manages to show nice touch on his deep passes,” said Rivals writer Keenan Cummings. “There are some obvious quality attributes that Saunders has as a passer, but it is his pure athletic ability may be his best overall.”
Though West Virginia signed two quarterbacks in each of the last two classes, Saunders could be it for 2016. With redshirt freshman William Crest and true freshmen Chris Chugunov and David Sills adding depth behind junior starter Skyler Howard, the Mountaineers simply don’t have an explicit need for more arms.
The dual-theat Saunders, who also held FCS offers from Liberty, Samford and Mercer, threw for 1,745 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior (running for another 907 yards and eight scores) as Arnold High School went 6-4, matching its win total of the previous two years combined.
During his sophomore season, Saunders threw for 1,003 yards and 11 touchdowns and ran for 320 yards and three touchdowns.